Long Riders are a unique group of
humans. They set off to explore the world on horseback for a variety of reasons.
Adventure. Science. Even religion.

One such unusual case involved a
young Scotsman. It was 1946 when George Patterson received a clear command from
God. The 26-year-old factory manager was to go to Tibet and proclaim his
Christian faith to the local populace. Of course there were a few minor
problems. George had never been out of his native land, spoke no Tibetan, and
had no money. But what the young Long Rider did have was LOTS of faith.

The tale of George's travels, first
across war-ravaged China and then into the mysterious mountain kingdom of Tibet,
is a moving account alternately full of spiritual insight and hair-raising
adventure. It is a grand and moving story. Yet this much we can say. Against all
odds the young Scot became a medical missionary, learned fluent Tibetan, and
adopted the customs and manners of his mounted hosts so completely as to become
nearly "Tibetan" himself.

It was because of the amazing
emotional confidence placed in him that the Tibetan leadership entrusted the
young Long Rider with the entire fate of their wind-swept kingdom. In January,
1950 word reached Tibet that the Chinese Communist army was preparing to invade
and conquer George's adopted homeland. Winter had set in and all the traditional
passes were closed. There was only one option and it entailed crossing the
Himalayas, during the height of winter, over a pass that no one had ever
attempted.

The mission was tantamount to
suicide. But if George had one thing on his side, it was unwavering faith that
God had sent him to Tibet for a purpose. With that conviction lodged firmly in
his heart, he saddled up his horse, "who was built like a song and moved
like a melody", then set off into a winter wasteland.

2nd
February

- 1950
Lawo to Samba Druca, Tibet

The
stage for today was to be a long one, and so we took sufficient food out of the
boxes to carry in our saddlebags as a snack.As we were leaving with our caravan today it meant that we would arrive
ahead of them, and would have to wait until they arrived with the loads before
we could have a proper meal.This
was where I appreciated the tsamba and dried meat.For no matter how sustaining porridge and the like might be in the
civilized West, I had found such food insufficient during my travels in Tibet.The high altitudes, the rarefied atmosphere and the constant exercise
created a tremendous appetite a few hours after the heaviest meal of bread or
potatoes or porridge, and with the prospect of another six or seven empty hours
one lost one’s confidence in Western conceptions of food values.Thus I had come to prefer the nourishing monotony of tsamba and dried
meat rather than the unsatisfying variety of Western food;further, there were insuperable difficulties in the supply and transport
of the latter.With two or three
bowls of tsamba and a handful or two of dried meat dipped in pepper tucked away
inside me, and a supplementary lump of tsamba and a few pieces of dried meat
tucked away inside my gown, I was ready to face the elements and the future;and thus it was on this day and occasion.

I
was now back on my own bay, having sent back Dege Sey’s horse with his groom,
and with this reminder that all trimmings were past I settled down to the grim
journey ahead.

Almost
immediately we were reminded of just how grim the journey was going to be when
the trail led suddenly into the dry bed of a river.At first there was a trickle of water among the stones but
gradually this died out and we were left in remarkable surroundings.The valley had narrowed until there was no room on either side of the
river for even a trail over which a horse or man could go.The place must have been completely impassable when the river was in
spate:now what little trail there was disappeared in the course of
the river and appeared at times among the small stones and huge boulders of the
river bed, and the horses picked their way with the greatest difficulty.The sides of the mountains were so steep that no sun entered at this time
of the morning, adding to the already eerie character of the gorge.When the muleteers let out an occasional yell at a horse or mule or yak
which wandered to the sides in search of grass, the sound seemed to rise in a
diminishing spiral until it escaped over the tops of the distant mountains.

I learned to ride without
hands, swinging left and right on a madly-galloping horse while dipping
earthwards to pick up stones on the ground, using my knees only to grip
the horse. I learned to ride up and down steep, narrow trails, in
mountain races where nerve as well as skill was necessary to stay alive,
as the mad Tibetan riders drove their horses past each other on
precipitous ledges above sheer drops of thousands of feet.

It
must have been about three hours later when we found a path leading out of the
river bed, which was by that time beginning to fill up with water from some
invisible source.I had been
growing more and more anxious as the boulders grew in size, towering above us,
and the water rose gradually all round us gurgling ominously in that grey
half-light as it met resistance from the stones.However, just when it appeared that we might have to retrace our steps,
the water now swirling about the horses’ knees, a faint path appeared on the
left bank and snaked its way up the sheer side of the mountain.We followed this trail over the high shoulder of the mountain, still
keeping that menacing gorge under our stirrups until we were two or three
thousand feet above it, when it dipped into a hollow and led to a few scattered
houses.The unconscious strain of
that journey must have been tremendous for when Loshay suggested a short stop
for tea I felt a surge of relief which was almost physical in its impact;the others showed it too in an exaggerated belligerence and impatience
with the startled villagers.

We
waited until the pack animals had caught up with us, and then, having checked
the loads, which had received a severe knocking-about among the boulders in the
river, we took to the trail again.The
shoulder of the mountain had flattened out somewhat to form a sheltered
declivity in which the houses nestled, but the sound of the river from that
forsaken gorge could still be heard.Once
the end of the declivity had been reached we descended sharply again, and I
received another rude jolt.For an
almost identical gorge was unfolding itself before me but this one had to be
crossed by bridge – and what a bridge!The supports (excuse the term!) of this contraption consisted
of roughly trimmed logs laid crosswise on each other to form the tapering sides
of a tower-like structure on either side of the gorge, in much the same manner
as we built houses of matches when we were children, and these were spanned by
two trees from which the branches had been trimmed and over which some boards
were loosely tied by creepers.Underneath
this appalling sight there was not even sufficient water to make a probable
landing bearable, only the grey nakedness of giant boulders leering up at us
invitingly.Well, it had to be
crossed.Fortified by a deep
breath, several bowls of tea and a – comparatively! – blameless youth, I
recklessly lunged forward wishing fervently I had had tennis shoes instead of
heavy riding boots as I felt the boards move uneasily beneath my feet.Now to cross that structure alone would have been a superb feat for an
iron-nerved trapeze artist, but when one had to lead a horse across it as well
it became a nightmare (and I hope you’ll pardon the unintentional pun).I do not know what the horse felt like but if outward appearances were
any criterion then I reckon we were the two biggest hypocrites in the animal
world at that moment, for my apparent sang-froid was excelled only by the
horse’s.I had horrible memories of a similar occasion when, in
negotiating a “bridge,” a friend’s horse had slipped down between the boards
on a wildly swinging suspension above a raging river in the dark.I was ahead and could not move forward, Geoff was behind and could not
move at all.The memory of that
horrible night will haunt me forever – and it haunted me now.I had a confused idea that I was being unconsciously sacrilegious as I
got mixed up in my prayers for myself and the horse;but this was understandable, since I was not sure whether to hold on to
the horse if I slipped, or hold on to the horse if he slipped.

And then, suddenly, space stopped heaving around me and I was on terra
firma once more, and so, miraculously, was the horse.I gazed hypnotically at the Tibetans as they crossed, wondering if their
calm was natural or assumed and coming to the conclusion that if it was natural
it was supernatural – and if any philosopher reading this book thinks that a
paradox – let him cross that bridge.

"The path was moving beneath our weight and stones being
kicked off the edge would turn and jump all the way down in horribly delayed
fashion to disappear in the river far below.There was not a tree or bush or scrub even to break that slowly executed
drop to eternity."

Click
on photo to enlarge

For
some time after that, I was unconscious of my surroundings as I pondered on the
mutability of things in general and bridges in particular and only noted vaguely
that we were climbing again.It was
the roar of the river gradually increasing which brought me from the speculative
to the real and I noticed that the river of our morning’s journey was once
again in sight and was now raging forward in snarling flood.While the alley had widened perceptibly, the river was still confined to
the narrow limits of the gorge and was racing forward to pour itself into a
larger river flowing at right angles to it.Just before meeting this river ahead it had to pass through a narrow
channel of solid rock, rising on both sides sheer out of the depths, and it was
the roar from its foaming madness at this immovable barrier which had attracted
my attention.

As
I said, we had been climbing steadily over the shoulder of the mountain and we
were now nearing the ridge where we would be in a position to scan the country
for miles around.Already I could
see that an impassable range of mountains lay ahead from north to south and that
we would have to turn down the valley to the south before we could find a way
through.This was confirmed, when,
topping the ridge, I saw a large unfordable river filling the valley as well.The confluence of the two rivers blocked the way to the north so the way
to the south alone was left.If the
valley out of which we had just come was savage, the one we now entered was
majestic, although it had something of the same cruelty.Perhaps the feeling was lessened somewhat by the greater width and calm
of the river and the greater height at which we were travelling, for we were now
five or six thousand feet above the river below.This was the Dza Chu or Mekong River, I gathered from the map.

As
we went forward parallel to the river the trail became more and more precarious,
and Loshay went ahead with Dawa Dondrup while Aku followed behind me.The path, such as it was, was only about two feet wide, and wound upwards
across the sheer face of the mountainside.This in itself would have been difficult enough to negotiate, but there
was also a loose scree slope to be considered.While I held myself easily in the saddle with an appearance of
nonchalance I could yet feel my abdominal muscles contracting into a hard lump.The path was moving beneath our weight and stones being
kicked off the edge would turn and jump all the way down in horribly delayed
fashion to disappear in the river far below.There was not a tree or bush or scrub even to break that slowly executed
drop to eternity.I kept my eyes
glued to a spot about a yard behind Loshay’s horse and eased my feet until
they were almost out of the stirrups, hoping that I might be able to make a safe
landing if I had to throw myself off my horse.

Occasionally a horse would slip on the narrow path and the rear hooves go
over the edge and the rider would have to throw himself forward along the
horse’s neck as it scrambled wildly to retain its balance.The others would then sit back in their saddles and roar with
laughter at the antics of horse and rider, careless of the fact that failure to
recover meant certain death.I had
heard previously that a Tibetan’s laughter at such a moment is not mockery at
a companion’s predicament but a defiant defence against the evil spirits who
wish their destruction and who would take advantage of any evidence of fear to
accomplish this.But while I was
quite willing to concede this at times, yet there were circumstances when their
laughter was too spontaneous to be other than sheer delight in danger.Twice I went over and started two small landslides before I managed to
pull the horse desperately back on to the trail, and Loshay merely sat in his
saddle and laughed.There was no question of shouted advice or help.Balance and desperation were the only things to be used and the others
had to sit and watch because there was no room to dismount;to attempt to do so meant instant death for horse and rider.

"The
Tibetans would sit back in their saddles and roar with
laughter at the antics of horse and rider, careless of the fact that failure to
recover meant certain death."

Click
on picture to enlarge

We
must have travelled for three or four hours like this before we reached more solid
going and the trail widened and allowed us to relax.It was cold, bitterly cold, but I was soaked with sweat and
the horses were likewise.We
dismounted and walked for a time leading the horses to give them, and ourselves,
a break, as the trail was now leading down to a small, shallow depression in the
mountain above the river.Even from
a distance it looked an amazing sight for there was not a bit of vegetation to
be seen anywhere, mountains and valley being of rock, stones and earth in an
awesome monotony, and the whole depression was covered with boulders, large and
small, as if the river had risen in some incredible fashion and then had fallen
to leave this incongruous saucer of stones a thousand feet up on the mountain;or, perhaps, they had fallen off the sheer slopes above in some landslide
in the distant past.Where the
boulders had been gathered to build a few houses, there were patches that had
been hopefully cultivated but whether they produced anything I seriously doubted
from their appearance.

Our
arrival caused the usual stir and on inquiring if this was Samba Druca, our
stage for the day, we were directed to the other side of the river.It appeared that Samba Druca, or Samba Dring as the locals called it (Druca
meaning “ferry” and Dring meaning “rope-way” – probably a corruption
of “Iding” meaning “suspension”) was in two parts, one on either side of
the Mekong River, but the far side contained the best houses and would also
provide the animals for our journey.The people were very primitive and very poor, men and women
wearing only very filthy hand-woven Tibetan gowns, most of them in rags, while
the children wore nothing at all.This
was possible here as the valley was warm, sheltered by the jutting sides of the
mountain.

We
did not waste much time there but asked how we might proceed to the far side
immediately, as it was getting on to late afternoon.I was mystified, and said so, in that I could see no way of
getting to the other side even though the river had narrowed considerably at
this point.The headman of the
village then led me around the houses to where the mountain dropped away again
into the river about two hundred feet below.I swallowed!This seemed to
be my day for bridge nightmares.A
bamboo rope, made of woven creepers about two inches in diameter, had been wound
around a large boulder and held down by others piled on top and then led across
to the far side about fifty yards or more away where it was held in the same
manner.I gazed at the rope, I
gazed at the far side, I gazed at the swirling waters beneath, I gazed at the
horses, and then I gazed at the headman.I
thought of Yoga and levitation and astral projection and hypnotism, and then
came to the conclusion that the sheer necessity of my journey might drive me to
attempt that crossing;but I had
never yet heard of a horse being subject to such natural or supernatural
compulsion, and so I shook my head.

“No,”
I said emphatically.“It is
impossible to cross that” – then, in case he should think that I was afraid
to cross it, I added hastily – “What about the horses and loads?We leave the rented pack animals here, but we take our own riding
animals if possible.”

“Ah,
we don’t cross here at this time of the year,” he said cheerfully, “only
when the river is in flood, and then it is impossible for animals or loads to
cross.But you asked where the
bridge was and this is it.”

I
looked at him closely to see if he was pulling my leg but he seemed a simple
soul and incapable of being funny – as funny as that anyway.

“How
do we get across then?” I asked.

“Oh,
by the ferry,” he replied, surprised at my ignorance.

“Lead
us to the ferry,” I requested patiently, greatly tried.I do not know what I expected, but whatever it was it was never like
this.After descending sharply from
boulder to boulder like a young hind and watching the horses being helped by
their ears and tails, I arrived in a deep cleft in the rocky wall of the
mountain beside the river.If, from
the point above, the river seemed to swirl, from here it positively swished.Being compressed into this comparatively narrow channel of forth to fifty
yards’ width by the sheer slopes of the mountain seemed to annoy it intensely,
and it raced angrily, gurgled menacingly and leered invitingly in protest.Lest this chronicle should become monotonous from the number of deep
breaths inspired, let me hasten to record:I expired deeply.

“Where
is the boat or coracle?” I asked, looking around that cramped space in vain.

“It
is kept on the far side,” he answered.“I
will shout and they will bring it over.”

He
gave a yodel, whose echo would have been amusing in other circumstances as it
curled and rebounded around us for some time, and an answering yodel from the
far side showed me where some people were already hurrying to the river’s
edge.The launching point on the
far side was slightly downstream and was also only a narrow gap in the mountain
face, and from there in a few minutes two men pushed off on a raft.The swift current in mid-stream carried them away below us but in the
calmer water of the side they paddled more easily upstream toward us.

Was
this country ever going to cease to provide the unsuspected and marvelous?I thought.Six logs were
half submerged in the water and water appeared in the spaces between the logs,
as it dipped and plunged in the comparative quiet of the side-stream current.A load?Yes!With resignation, I thought.A
man?Yes!In desperation.But,
a horse?No!Under no circumstances whatever could I see a horse boarding, negotiating
and alighting from that contraption.I was wrong.

The
first trip was to take a man and some of the loads.Aku was chosen by unnatural selection – the survival of the
slickest.They pushed off and one
man paddled on either side, while Aku kept the balance and his eyes on the boxes
– he could do no more;he
appeared petrified while the raft dipped, plunged, and spun on its way across to
the far side.It arrived.

A
horse this time, and Dawa Dondrup’s turn.He got his own back by taking his horse.He backed onto the raft pulling at the reins to drag the
horse after him and then it balked when its forefeet were on and the tail end
off.The problem was easily solved
by a cut from a whip, and the raft gave a wild lurch as the horse suddenly
arrived.This is it, I thought.But no, the raft miraculously righted itself and the men on it even more
miraculously likewise.It was only then that I was initiated into the secret of How
To Ferry A Horse Across A Dangerous River On A Raft Its Own Size.A metal ring had been driven into a log and the reins, or halter rope,
were passed through this and the horse’s head drawn down until its nose
touched it.This, coupled with the
co-operation of a man holding its tail, was deemed sufficient to keep the animal
steady during the trip.It was –
or, at least, it appeared to be.

However, when my turn came the world seemed to be filled with
moving horses.I had firmly
declined to sit on a box at one end and hold the animal’s tail, choosing the
more precarious end of the raft, if not the horse’s, to take up my position
for the trip.When the raft started
pitching the horse snorted and tried to shy and I had to throw all my weight on
the reins to keep it steady, but then when it quieted suddenly I was almost
catapulted over the side, for I was ankle-deep in water most of the time.When the raft and the horse and the mountains and the world ceased to
spin I was sitting on a boulder and watching the raft nearing the other side
again.

There
were no casualties and this formed the topic of our conversation, later that
night in the village, where we sat in a
filthy room over a charcoal brazier and drank tea.When I felt sufficiently fortified and settled, I told Loshay
to get the hard-boiled eggs out of my saddlebag and heat them;for the claims of my inner man were clamoring to be met.I think I had six – or maybe it was sixteen;I was not in the mood to quibble or nibble – for a snack, and then the
soldiers managed to round up a quantity of fresh eggs, or, rather, a quantity of
eggs with fresh ones among them.I
looked longingly at one or two choice little piglets running around and wondered
if I should make my thoughts plain to the others, but knowing that the villagers
would not sell and that my companions would probably stretch their authority to
“requisitioning” to gratify my desires, I held my peace and the vision
faded.

To the great sadness of all Members
of The Guild, George Patterson went to meet his God in 2012. For an
interview with this amazing Long Rider, please click here.